Tornado Ali's Profile

Tornado Ali

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Mmm-hmmm, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Nov 10, 2009, 12:46 pm
From a recent story in The Galesburg Register-Mail: When Perry McFarland looked out his window around 7:30 yesterday morning, a glimpse of something caught his eye. In the grassy knoll behind his fen...
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Leaving a trail

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Nov 8, 2009, 11:25 am
Yesterday I took advantage of the nice weather (read: procrastinated on writing a paper) to do something I've needed to do for months: I attacked the inside of my car with the dust buster. When I...
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Junk in the (metaphorical and literal) trunk

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Nov 3, 2009, 5:36 pm
1. There's nothing quite as humbling (depressing) as finally admitting to yourself (and only doing so because you truly no longer have even an inch of closet space) that the goal to fit into the ...
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Dude, did you crotch the weed?

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 31, 2009, 5:29 pm
What was up with the K-9 sniffers all along 67 on Friday afternoon/evening? I came up on the ominous-looking barricade as I was exiting Macomb on my way to Davenport to see C-Nor. As I approached, I...
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Carly Simon at Daytrotter in the QC's!

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 27, 2009, 7:31 am
That's right, thee Carly Simon. And you can download all the songs she recorded for free. Including "Your So Vain," which she recorded with her son Ben, famous progeny of Carly and James Taylor....
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Heeeeeeere's.....Rick Van Brooker?

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 23, 2009, 5:07 pm
Oops! Check out this snafu in this article about the Vishnu tour in the Western Courier on Friday: The Friends of Vishnu want to respect the wishes of Ira Post and keep it a wildlife sanctuary, whe...
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Have you seen this sign in Macomb?

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 22, 2009, 5:09 pm
Go 'head, give it a good read. I have driven past this sign on East Calhoun in Macomb for many months. And each time, I have wondered: WTFrick? But a few other questions have arisen as well. ...
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Vishnu on Facebook

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 22, 2009, 5:04 pm
Former WIU archivist Marla Vizdal has started a Facebook group for Vishnu Springs. Check it out to see pictures of the size of the crowd from last Sunday! (Something like 1,500 people got to go insi...
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Free Martha Wainwright songs from Daytrotter

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 22, 2009, 12:53 pm
Singer/songwriter/famous daughter and sister Martha Wainwright recently dropped by Daytrotter in Rock Island and recorded a bunch of songs, which you can download for free here. That's right, fo...
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A random shed in McDonough County.

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 21, 2009, 5:16 pm
... but back on this beautiful June day, I wanted to capture those clouds.
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Vishnu visitors report!

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 20, 2009, 4:28 pm
Thanks to Ziggy and HerGLX3 for the reports of the Vishnu Tour! Oh, how I wish I could've gone. Especially to see the inside of the hotel, to view those photo albums HerGLX3 mentioned, and to h...
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This just in:

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 19, 2009, 5:27 pm
a report about Sunday's Vishnu tour from one of my esteemed readers: IT WAS PACKED! I have no idea how many people would have been there - would love to hear a head count. Traffic backed up, lin...
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David Sedaris swam at the Davenport Y.

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 19, 2009, 5:25 pm
I wonder if anyone recognized him? I wonder if he wore a Speedo? These questions were going through my mind during the Q&A portion of Sedaris’s reading Thursday night at the Adler Theatre in Dave...
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Did you venture out to Vishnu?

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 19, 2009, 12:45 pm
So did anyone out there go the Vishnu Springs tour this weekend? (I couldn't go because I was in the Quad Cities.) Did you take pictures? Was there a good crowd? Who led the tour? Did you...
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Drive-by editing

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 19, 2009, 12:34 pm
Condo's for sale. Oh really, it is? Which one? I drive past this gated-community-in-development every weekend that I'm in Davenport visiting C-Nor. On Sunday afternoon, I decided I just can...
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Summer pic (which I took in June and am just now uploading)

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 17, 2009, 5:27 pm
(Just off Hwy 136 going east out of Macomb.)
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Tornado Ali is following the blog The MidWasteland

Tornado Ali has updated the About Me section

Tornado Ali is following the blog Judge a Book By The Cover

Tornado Ali is following the blog Apartment Therapy

Tornado Ali is following the blog Living a Life of Writing

Tornado Ali is following the blog Copyblogger

More deets on the Campus Twin

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 13, 2009, 5:53 pm
There is a new tenant for the old movie theater in Macomb. The owners of The Rialto Cinemas have agreed to rent the former Carmike Cinemas building from Western Illinois University. "They came to us...
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Vishnu Tour this Sunday!

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 13, 2009, 5:42 pm
This Sunday, Oct. 18, will be "...the first time the public has been invited to visit Vishnu Springs since it was acquired by Western Illinois University" according to this calendar item from Tri St...
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More movie choices coming to Macomb?

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 9, 2009, 5:14 pm
This is what it now says on the old marquee for the Cinema 1 & 2 (which has been empty since the opening of the new Rialto: Welcome to WIU Twin Cinema Admission all movies $3 (or something pretty cl...
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Chitown rundown

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 8, 2009, 5:19 pm
So I never got around to telling you about my trip to Chicago a few weekends ago. (You were waiting, I know.) This was C-Nor's first trip on Amtrak. And, as always, I loved watching the scenery c...
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This is pretty huge:

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 5, 2009, 4:46 pm
Macomb Journal to become "The McDonough County Voice" But also not huge. Because it seems like a long time coming, and not only because of the way the industry's been going. (BTW does it seem a ...
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"Hey, doesn't she come to this thing EVERY year?"

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 5, 2009, 4:37 pm
On Friday evening I stopped by the Wine Sellers on the square for the annual ENG dept. fall gathering of graduate students and faculty. I felt a bit self-conscious. This was my third year in a row o...
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Q. Who the hell is this woman???

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Oct 1, 2009, 4:47 pm
Scene from earlier today when I went to do my weekly volunteer gig at Tri States Public Radio's Audio Information Services: Me, picking up Entertainment Weekly: Wha— who the hell is that? A...
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HMO limbo: how looow can you go?

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Sep 30, 2009, 5:57 pm
I have been fretting lately about the fact that I no longer have a doctor. She left town. And according to recent reportage, the recruiters can't get any of the candidates for this doctor's re...
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The Spaz is Back in the Saddle, and other news

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Sep 28, 2009, 11:52 am
1. The Spaz is back open! As I reported awhile back, this badly needed eatery-option had been in a sad-seeming state recently. Chris and I went on Sunday night. We were about the only people in the...
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Q. What's being plowed down over on Hemp Road?

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Sep 15, 2009, 5:55 pm
A: It ain't pot! There's a story in the McDonough County This Week (a.k.a. the junk mailer you get for free on Mondays) that describes an old factory in Macomb that's being torn down alo...
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Thanks to the commentors on yesterday's post. I hope all...

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Sep 15, 2009, 12:59 pm
Thanks to the commentors on yesterday's post. I hope all of us will be proven wrong and The Spaz will re-open with a bustling business. Or that, if not, something good will open up in its place...
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What's the skinny on The Spaz?

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Sep 14, 2009, 5:55 pm
Is it just me, or are things on the southwest side of the square looking a wee bit depressing? Chris and I were taking a walk around the square over Labor Day Weekend when we stumbled upon the revela...
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spotted in C-chester

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Sep 6, 2009, 10:35 am
A few random notes from this Saturday's trip to the Antique Gas Engine Show, (which no one ever refers to by its real name or purpose), otherwise known as the annual Colchester/Labor Day Flea Mark...
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3 things about life in this region you need to know right now

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Sep 3, 2009, 5:37 pm
1. Ewwwww. That is so, so gross. 2. In one day, in the classified section of the Western Courier (WIU student newspaper), Spirit in the Sky ran an ad stating that the shop would be screening some ki...
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Colchester: notes on bypassing, and passing through

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Sep 3, 2009, 5:16 pm
As a lifelong resident of Forgotonia, I've driven through Colchester a gazillion and a half times in my life. (jealous?) But a few weeks ago, when C-Nor (otherwise known as Chris Norton, by boyfr...
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A supposedly fun thing I probably WILL do again. (Every summer.)

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Aug 24, 2009, 5:01 pm
Every time I attend the Illinois State Fair, I can't help but think about the late David Foster Wallace and his funny essay about the annual event, ("Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Aw...
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Radio essay today on WIUM.

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Aug 18, 2009, 7:34 am
Here's me remembering the goat named after The Gloved One, if ya wanna read/ take a listen.
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You know you're from Forgotonia when...

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Aug 15, 2009, 11:30 am
... one of the only "tourist attractions" listed in this area is a tree. A few other innerstin' items from the local news: 2) Lustron house in jeopardy? (It's a Lustron, yes, but....is it lu...
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Close encounters of the sky-over-Carthage-kind

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Aug 15, 2009, 11:13 am
Did anyone catch this guy (Robert Hastings, the author of "UFOs and Nukes") on "Larry King Live" in July? He's coming to WIU to speak in the fall: a noted UFO researcher—but also one who claims...
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On hiatus

Tornado Ali posted an article on Welcome to Forgotonia - Jul 1, 2009, 10:08 am
....but c-ya soon(ish)!
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About Me

As a reporter, columnist, and/or freelance writer in west central Illinois, I've written about everything from the origin of the Reuben sandwich to the "rural urban legend" about Ringo Starr's tonsils.

I occasionally do essays for my local NPR affiliate, WIUM Tri States Public Radio (hence the pic, yo.) I would love to hear from you.

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